The New Hampshire race for the U.S. Senate is producing a number of political ads. Gov. Maggie Hassan has had the temerity to claim credit in her television ads for “producing a balanced budget.” I believe a look at the record is in order.
The balanced budget was produced by collaboration between the New Hampshire House and Senate. Gov. Hassan had nothing to do with the final product, except that she vetoed it.
The veto, coming just five days before the scheduled end of the session, required that the Legislature come back for an expensive special session to override that veto. The veto was overridden in a special session in mid-September.
A person who claims credit for the successes of others is called a fraud.
Steve WinterNewbury, N.H.
Long before Donald Trump was a gleam in Sarah Palin’s eye or Chris Christie had started playing in traffic, or Trump himself had invaded the political arena, he had become infamous in Scotland. I know this because in 2012 I went to see a film called You’ve Been Trumped. You can see this film yourself in the comfort of your own home; just stream it for free on your computer. I went to see the film, not because I had the remotest interest in Trump, but because I love Scotland. (Don’t ask; my roots are Middle European and Semitic and unless you believe that one of the lost tribes of Israel became the Celts — and some people do — there is absolutely no understanding my passion for Scotland.)
The film, a documentary about Trump’s project to build a golf course in Scotland, should be required viewing for anyone inclined to imagine Trump as the leader of the free world. For the rest of us, it is simply a reminder how much damage hubris, untempered by reason, can do. The film, without any political agenda, falls into the “give him enough rope” category.
Unlike H.L. Menken, who famously said “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public,” I believe that people will eventually come to their senses. There are not enough confused, frightened, angry people to elect a bombastic showman with no political experience.
But in the interests of fair disclosure and reason, watch You’ve Been Trumped, especially if you are thinking of supporting Trump. Anyone who has observed a variety of life forms knows this: Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and leopards don’t change their spots. For a close look at how a predator behaves, watch You’ve Been Trumped.
Joan JaffeNorwich
Sometimes it’s difficult to determine if we’re making progress, floundering or regressing at times such as these. The prudent course is to review history in terms of changes, then analyze trends. This morning I decided to consider politics, ecology and human nature.
The rate of change in both major parties over the last few months is pretty obvious. The GOP has become increasingly unstable, though this trend may be reversing given that many party leaders are abandoning their nominee’s candidacy for president. On the other hand, the Democrats seem to have been energized by the leftward polarization Sanders and his supporters provided.
Another accelerating rate of change that should be recognized by anyone on this planet is the degradation of the environment. Recently this newspaper carried a story on the tragic demise of Alaska’s East Fork wolf pack. I suggest these trends are converging to a point where we must take action.
Our politics are approaching the ideal where the average person (and not the plutocrats) is being championed, while the environment is fast approaching a point of no return. What can be done? I attended the “Ready for 100” photo-shoot on Aug. 17 on the Dartmouth Green. This in itself will not change much, but I plan to follow up. The “Ready for 100” effort is connected to the Sierra Club, so I doubt the gathering was a flash in the pan.
Kevin McEvoy Leveret White River Junction
Two letters in the Aug. 13 Forum from opposite sides of the political spectrum caught my attention.
Steve Rounds, under the headline, “The Second Amendment is Safe,” explains carefully what it would take to “abolish” it, an accusation against Hillary Clinton voiced by Donald Trump. That’s fine if one takes the words produced by Trump at face value, but there’s ample occasions where Trump’s intentions aren’t easily discerned (perhaps even by himself), so to assume you know what he meant is easily off base. In this case, another interpretation of Trump’s accusation is that Hillary Clinton, if elected president, would put people on the Supreme Court who would, in the majority, change the interpretation of the Second Amendment in a way that would be contrary to the wishes of the NRA and its supporters. But, of course, Trump is leaving out that the president doesn’t have the power to assign members of the Supreme Court without the concurrence of the Senate, something in which the current Senate is not cooperating.
The other letter I noted is headed “Obama’s Not One to Judge.” It was submitted by Jim Newcomb of North Haverhill. I used an internet search engine to see what credentials Mr. Newcomb might have that qualified him to say, as a fact — not merely his opinion which would be perfectly OK — that Obama is “the worst president in the nation’s history.” Well, I didn’t find anything that would support Mr. Newcomb as an academically accepted expert on political matters, so what the heck does he know about that?
Louis A. Kislik West Lebanon